Maximize Phone Interview Efficiency with 3 Recruitment Franchise Tips

If you plan to
invest in a recruitment franchise, it’s important that you never stop advancing your understanding
of the hiring process as a whole. You need to know what employers are
looking for, and how to attract top candidates in your chosen field.

Most importantly, you need to know the interview process inside-out. Phone
interviews are especially important in the recruitment world because they’re
so efficient. Suppose you have 10 candidates to interview; would you rather
meet each in person, or eliminate the travel time for all involved with
a series of quick, efficient, fat-free interviews that tell you all you
need to know? Phone interview skills are also becoming more important
as Skype and Facetime interviews become standard in the hiring world.

In today’s post, we walk through some best practices for phone interviews
to help recruitment franchise owners locate the best talent to recommend
to their clients.

Building Blocks for Effective Phone Interviews – Chatting Up Candidates

When you initially reach out to candidates, the goal is not to lock down
any hiring commitments, but rather to build a rapport. Don’t jump
the gun with technical or in-depth questions about their experience.

Polishing Up Interview Questions

Once you’ve build a rapport, you need to prepare the right questions
for your inevitable interview. The first step here is to define your hiring
goals – what are some “must-haves” for your hires in
this instance? Every job and employer will have some “deal breakers,”
and it’s important to get to these make-or-break matters as soon
as possible. If the job you’re trying to fill requires a bachelor’s
degree, four years experience, and a willingness to travel, you’re
best to lead with these kinds of questions to keep your process as efficient
as possible.

Once you’ve gotten past the initial make-or-break screening, you
can get into behavioral-based interview questions that tell us more about
how the job seeker responds in given situations. To do this in a meaningful
way, you’ll need to work with the client/employer to define problems
presented by the job’s deliverables. Once you have this information,
you can start to ask the clients how they would complete a given day’s
work, and problem-solve around any issues that arise.

Rapid-Fire Best Practices for Phone Interview Success

Here are a few rapid-fire tips to improve your hiring process:

Write down simple goals and talking points before you call the candidate

Always notify the candidate that you will call ahead of time, then be punctual!

Conduct your phone interview in a quiet area without any serious visual
distractions

To avoid any audio issues, use a headset instead of a speakerphone

Keep a Google Document open to record answers as needed, and inform your
candidate that you will be taking notes

Be sure to give the candidate a chance to ask any questions of their own

Always give a courtesy call to those candidates who do not qualify for
the position; if they aren’t right for it now, they could be later!